The Hindu Business Line : Onion production may top record 6 m tonnes

A RECORD production of onion is likely this season (July 2005-June 2006), while potato output could rise by about half-a-million tonnes (mt) on increased coverage during the rabi season.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, onion production, after suffering a setback during kharif, has recovered during late kharif sowing and could improve during rabi. While kharif production is estimated at 1.16 mt, it is projected at 1.37 mt in the late kharif season.

The rabi production could top 3.5 mt, thanks to the area under the vegetable rising to 2.9 lakh hectares (lh) from 2.83 lh last year.

Totally, the crop this season is projected to 6.03 mt against 5.94 mt last year.

During kharif and late kharif, the area under the crop was 94,440 hectares (91,530 hectares) and 69,200 hectares (65,250 hectares), respectively.

Unseasonal rains wreaked havoc on the kharif crop, resulting in onion prices rising sharply. However, a good late kharif crop that has begun arriving in the markets has led to fall in the prices.

This week, onion was auctioned between Rs 380 and Rs 410 a quintal in the main agricultural markets in Maharashtra against Rs 1,600-2,000 during October-November.

Pototo production is expected to be 24.65 mt against 24.15 mt with the gains expected to come in during rabi. While kharif production has been pegged at 1.33 mt, rabi output could rise to 23.3 mt. This is against last year's output of 1.4 mt during kharif and 22.74 mt during rabi. Gains are expected mainly on rise in area during rabi with coverage up at 12.31 lh against 11.99 lh last year. Kharif coverage was 97,430 hectares against 1.04 lh last year.

Potato prices are currently ruling between Rs 10 and Rs 12 a kg in retail outlets against Rs 3-5 a kg during the same time last year.

Meanwhile, rabi sowing continues to witness lower coverage of rice and coarse cereals, especially jowar and maize.

According to a statement from the Ministry, wheat coverage has increased to 242.96 lh from 240.88 during the corresponding period a year ago. The sowing is up in Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

The area under rice trails at 7.53 lh (7.67 lh) with coverage in Andhra Pradesh being down by 1.1 lh and 10,000 hectares in Kerala.

Coverage of coarse cereals has witnessed jowar sowing dip to 50.87 lh (52.32 lh) with the area slipping in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Similarly, maize sowing lags behind on coverage in Tamil Nadu being down by 20,000 hectares. Sowing in barley is, however, up by 50,000 hectares with gains coming from Gujarat, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Pulses acreage is up 3.35 lh with the rise in area in Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bengal compensating for the slack progress in Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.

With rapeseed/mustard coverage rising by over 4 lh, oilseeds sowing is up at 98.62 lh (95.71 lh). The area under groundnut trails mainly due to Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, while Karnataka is the reason for lower safflower coverage. Sunflower sowing is up a tad with better coverage in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Water level in the 76 major reservoirs of the country, already the highest in the last 10 years, is 91.98 billion cubic metres (BCM) against the full level of 133.02 BCM. All the reservoirs have water that can be utilised though the level in five of them is less than 30 per cent of the designed live storage.